sergeant stubby

 As we continue celebrating the historic dogs who helped shape our great nation and honoring the four-legged heroes of America’s 250th Anniversary, we turn our attention to Sergeant Stubby, one of the most decorated dogs in American military history. 🐾

A tiger-striped stray who stowed away on a troop ship to France, Stubby became the subject of one of the most extraordinary military service stories ever told. Fighting alongside the 102nd Infantry during World War I, he saw action in 17 battles and survived both mustard gas attacks and grenade shrapnel wounds.

Stubby saved lives by alerting soldiers to incoming gas attacks, locating wounded troops in no-man’s land who might

otherwise not have been rescued, capturing a German spy, and boosting morale as a therapy companion to injured soldiers.

For his bravery, Stubby earned two Purple Hearts, multiple campaign medals, the French Grande Medal, and even a battlefield promotion to Sergeant, the first dog ever to receive that rank.

After the war, he marched in victory parades in Paris, met three U.S. Presidents, became a beloved national icon, and later served as Georgetown University’s football team mascot. Today, his legacy lives on at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

Sergeant Stubby represents the courage, loyalty, and sacrifice of all military dogs, past and present, who have so nobly served beside America’s heroes. As we celebrate 250 years of American independence, Paws of War pays tribute to the many four-legged heroes who helped defend, and continue to defend, our freedom on battlefronts across the world.